Small Talk
Wanting to impress is in our DNA
Some people dislike surprises, but I love them, excluding, of course, practical jokes and car breakdowns. But like an old warhorse, I am at my best when the bugle sounds.This past weekend was the perfect example of my favorite kind of spontaneity. I found out Friday that a favorite college chum and her lovely husband [...]
Jury duty is no vacation
I just had a week away from it all. Call it a mini-vacation courtesy of the U.S. government right in the heart of beautiful downtown San Diego. You might know it better as jury duty. For the third time in about eight years, I was summoned by “She who must be obeyed” — Lady Justice. [...]
If you can’t stand the heat …
Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to the Really Bland cook-off. This is for a different 1 percent — the sad minority who just can’t eat spicy food and feel really left out cook-off-wise. I despair as clever top chefs are laying out what seems like a perfect meal, making my mouth water as they describe each [...]
Oh, to be superhuman
A few things caught my attention this week. First, it was news of a local sixth-grade team winning a recent robotics contest. Then I stumbled on a collection of award-winning science fiction. Then someone tried to comfort me by telling me, “We’re only human.” Don’t I know it, sister. I become more aware of that [...]
No need to thank me
It’s Saturday and I know they are all out there — just about every soul from L.A. to the border. Please don’t ask me to get in my car. Don’t ask me to drive anywhere or, heaven forfend, try to “run in and grab” anything that should “just take a minute.” The streets are clogged. [...]
My own personal doc? Nah.
Hearing daily updates on the tribulations of Michael Jackson’s physician set me to pondering what life would be like having one’s own personal medical expert at one’s elbow. I think it might be even cooler than a private chef. I don’t even want to contemplate what it might cost to convince a trained physician to [...]
Hola, Paco. Donde esta la biblioteca?
Español. Such a lovely language. I’ve heard it spoken properly by a host of profesors y profesoras, although I’ve never managed to speak it properly myself. Never mind that I did three years of listening labs in high school, four semesters of conversation in college and have lived in southern California since high school. I [...]
Halloween all about neighbors
I thank my great-great-great-great-great-and-then-some Irish grandparents for the fun of Halloween, as the ancient Celts launched the holiday as Samhain, an end-of-summer harvest festival. This brings me to my fascination with the pronunciation of Gaelic — or Gaoidhealg — which rarely has anything to do with the letters involved. If you think spelling in English [...]
Cat tale is enough to bring tears to my eyes
You don’t mind if I whine a bit, do you? I want a cat but just can’t have one. Every time I get near them my eyes itch, swell and most of my respiratory system slams shut. But I waaaant one. OK, done now. But I am feeling thoroughly sorry for my sweet daughter and [...]
Leave the farming to my husband
How does my garden grow? A little strangely. Sometimes I think it resembles the cafeteria on Deep Space Nine. Around my house, we don’t just eat, we eat and learn. It isn’t really my garden. It is the handiwork of my ever-inquisitive husband with an adventuresome palate. He has seen to it that our backyard [...]
